Can we talk about the Panthers?

I just need a few minutes to talk about the Carolina Panthers and how much fun I have when I go to the games.

Now I will admit, I wasn’t a huge Panthers fan until semi-recently when my best friends showed me what I was missing. Zandi Watts joined the Purrcussion and Travis Durkee showed me the art of tailgating… after that I was hooked. And here we are today with me wanting to attend every game I can.

Continuing right along with my recap, back in January 2014 I was given the chance to attend the playoff game at Bank of America Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers. Normally I would have never been able to afford tickets, but my friend Katie Parham knew someone who hooked us up. It really isn’t what you know… it’s who you know.

So we found some sparkly attire, headed to Bojangles for some chicken and showed our Panthers pride with a flag. We were ready to cheer on the men in blue.

Now I just have to pause for a second here and say that double headband has proven to be a fantastic purchase. I’ve worn it to several games since and it’s always a great game day accessory. Props to Claire’s for helping us find each other. I also have to give props to Katie for curling my hair that day.

Katie and I had a great time tailgating and ran into some fantastic folks. Including the always ready for a day of fun, Whitney Hall, and Travis and his tailgating crew.

We didn’t get a picture with Travis, but us girls are always down for posing.

We also made sure to see Zandi do her thing in the drumline and I took tons of pictures. I’m a proud best friend.

Doesn’t she look so cute in her Purrcussion uniform? She always does an amazing job performing and was only frazzled once that day when a very tall man also wanted to play drums.

Luckily he finally went on his way and Zandi went back to doing her drumming thing, all while Whitney supported her with a special message.

We use the hastag #zandisfault a lot on Instagram and Whitney wanted to make sure she knew that it was her fault we were at the game.

After the performance it was time for us to go in for the game and I have to admit, it felt good to tell people we actually had tickets. Most of them were only there to tailgate because tickets were priced so high. I felt privileged.

We headed to the stadium and on our way in, we stopped to take a picture with Joshua Mathias Watts and his wife Keri. Two other members of the Watts family who I love.

And then we made some random new friends. Everyone is always in a great mood when they are entering the stadium.

Even fans of the rival team wanted to be friends.

But once we made it inside, all friendships were over because we had some cheering for the Panthers to do.

Even though the Panthers ended up losing that day, we still had a great time. We also managed to sneak down and see Zandi and the Purrcussion during the game. Then Zandi took the cutest selfie.

Note to everyone: I tried this again at another game and an angry employee came over and told me I couldn’t be there because those weren’t my seats. I think it just depends on who is working and if you can weasel your way down there. I’m sure I will try again.

Another note: The woman on my left is awesome and let me use her bathroom on her RV several times while tailgating so I didn’t have to use a porta potty. I thought we should take a picture together so I could remember her.